Blue Eye Samurai Cleans Up At The 2024 Annie Awards

Blue Eye Samurai

Over the weekend, ASIFA-Hollywood, the LA branch of the International Animated Film Association, held its 51st annual Annie Awards ceremony, honoring productions that represent the best of the field of animation in 2023. Over 30 awards were up for grabs, with categories across film, TV and streaming, and even video games, with dozens of nominees across the board.

There were some clear and obvious favorites going into the awards, and some of those were definitely realized in the final awards count. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did very well for itself – not that anyone doubted it – and picked up seven awards throughout the show, including awards for Best Feature, Best FX, Best Music, and Best Character Design. The Boy and the Heron picked up a couple of wins in the features categories too, bringing home awards for Best Storyboarding and Best Character Animation, though Spider-Verse certainly dominated in just about every one of the features categories.

In the TV and media categories, though, there was one surprising standout: Blue Eye Samurai. The Netflix-produced series took home an incredible six awards in total, including Best FX, Best Character Animation, Best Production Design, and Best Writing.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, though — Blue Eye Samurai was a smash hit on Netflix, reaching almost 3 million viewers in its first week of release. That’s an impressive stat for a brand-new IP with relatively unknown creators behind it, and Netflix was clearly impressed too. Blue Eye Samurai was renewed for a second season less than a month after the first season was released. No release date has been set.

All Annie Awards Winners

• Best Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Feature - Independent: Robot Dreams

• Best Special Production: Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie

• Best Short Subject: WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

• Best Sponsored: "Video Games" by Tenacious D

• Best TV/Media - Preschool: Ghee Happy

• Best TV/Media - Children: Hilda

• Best TV/Media - Mature: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best TV/Media - Limited Series: Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire

• Best Student Film: The Little Poet

• Best FX - TV/Media: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best FX - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Character Animation - TV/Media: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best Character Animation - Feature: The Boy and the Heron

• Best Character Animation - Live Action: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

• Best Character Animation - Video Game: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

• Best Character Design - TV/Media: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

• Best Character Design - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Direction - TV/Media: Star Wars: Visions

• Best Direction - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Music - TV/Media: Star Wars: Visions

• Best Music - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Production Design - TV/Media: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best Production Design - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

• Best Storyboarding - TV/Media: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

• Best Storyboarding - Feature: The Boy and the Heron

• Best Voice Acting - TV/Media: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

• Best Voice Acting - Feature: Nimona

• Best Writing - TV/Media: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best Writing - Feature: Nimona

• Best Editorial - TV/Media: Blue Eye Samurai

• Best Editorial - Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

You can see the full list of Annie Awards nominees and winners on the Annie Awards website.

Related: The Best Anime Series On Netflix